Systems which support the driver in driving the vehicle or facilitate special driving maneuvers (advanced driver assistance systems; ADAS) are being used to an increasing extent in motor vehicles. One function of such systems is lane keeping support (LKS) in which the actual position of the vehicle in relation to the lane in which it is driving is determined and compared with a setpoint which typically corresponds to the center of the lane. The output signal then includes an actuator signal for an actuator which intervenes in the steering system of the vehicle, whether to support the driver by an additional steering torque or to perform a completely autonomous lane keeping which no longer requires any intervention by the driver.
In addition to this lane keeping support, which is used to keep the vehicle in the lane in which it is driving at the moment, there are also known lane changing assistants which are activated on command by the driver, e.g., when a passing maneuver is to be initiated or terminated and which support the driver in changing lanes or automatically support the lane change. This operating element is used for input of the lane changing command. After the lane changing command has been entered, the lane changing operation runs in automatic operation according to a fixedly predetermined program, but this often does not conform to the driver's actual intent.